I THINK it will be a great, big, beautiful game," said Roberto Bettega, the Juventus vice-president and former star. "Very intense. And finally we'll have a full stadium - once a year!" Will they ever. Juventus estimate that, had they been able to satisfy demand for Wednesday's European Cup semi-final second-leg tie against Manchester United, there would be an attendance of 200,000.
Bettega, a hero of the 1982 World Cup, is virtually Juve's chief executive. Opposite the desk in his large office in Turin stands a cabinet full of trophies. Just a reproduction of the European Cup, however. "You have to win it three times in a row or five times in all to have it outright," he said, recalling that he played for Juve in two losing European Cup finals.
Not for nothing is the club known as La Signora d'Italia, Italy's pride. Those ticket requests came from all over the peninsula and some of the most bitter complaints were from the deep south. Turin is another story. "Juventus," said a big taxi driver, disparagingly. "I'll be cheering for Manchester United." He was a Torino fan, as are thousands of other Torinisi. It is traditional in Turin. Juventus have long since been seen as the Fiat club, the Agnelli club, run by the powerful family that owns the motor factories and has long employed the bulk of Turin's workforce.
There will be 67,000 in an unpopular stadium, which is to be demolished and replaced by a smaller ground nearby. Six thousand tickets have gone to Manchester United fans and 2,000 seats have been sacrificed to keep the fans apart.
"To call this a special week," said Carlo Ancelotti, the recently appointed Juventus manager, "is not to say very much." Ancelotti, who took over before he was due to do so next season when Marcello Lippi walked out, was referring not only to the United game but to yesterday's match in Rome against Serie A leaders Lazio. He insisted Juve would take it very seriously, although they have little chance of qualifying for next season's Champions League unless they actually win the cup in Barcelona.
Journalists in Turin believe that having nothing to distract Juve might be an advantage on Wednesday. One said: "Juve are concentrated on this tournament, because it is their one possible objective."
How will they play? With just one striker, Filippo Inzaghi, up front again, as they unexpectedly did in Manchester? This is what Italian journalists expect. They hope that, if a second striker is brought on, it will not be Juan Esnaider who, surprisingly, was employed as a substitute at Old Trafford. Since his arrival from Español of Barcelona, Esnaider, an Argentinian, has largely been unimpressive, although his recent form has improved. He's useful when Juve play away from home, said the reporters, "because he puts himself about a lot. But he never has a shot at goal." Ancelotti keeps his cards close to his chest.
"At Manchester, the system worked well," he said. "But every game has its own story. It's not pre-ordained that we'll use the same tactics in the return match. I wasn't surprised we found so much space at Old Trafford. Our object was to play well, and we succeeded." For his part, Bettega said: "Perhaps Manchester didn't think Juve would play the way they did. They thought we would play on the counter-attack. We weren't aggressive, but we tried to dictate the game, play well up, pushing the full-backs forward. In the first half, we tried to exploit this superiority. It's clear, though, that in the last 20 minutes we could have given away a goal at any time, even if we could also have scored one at any time on the counter-attack."
Zinedine Zidane, the motor of Juventus's midfield, was substituted last Sunday against Bologna, feeling a twinge in his heavily bandaged right knee. But Ancelotti said he would be all right on the night. The other doubt concerns Paolo Montero, the tough Uruguayan centre-back, who was hurt at Old Trafford and whose presence will be essential. They have scant faith in big Ciro Ferrara, his usual replacement, who has not been the same player since he was badly injured last season. But Bettega insists that Montero's injury was no more than a twinge and he should be on duty. Some of the fans are verbosely confident. "Juve will win; a 102% certainty," said one. "The final will be between Juve and Dynamo Kiev." An older fan is more cautious: "Juve, yes, but it's going to be hard." The journalists seem optimistic, too: "Manchester United never do well away from home."
Ancelotti and Juventus have other worries, however. Will Alessandro Del Piero stay? Out injured for most of the season, he wants a new contract, but he is also wanted by Atletico Madrid, who have offered him more than £2.3m a year. There were, said Ancelotti, "subterranean" forces at work in the transfer market. It wasn't like the old days when contact between clubs and players was more direct. Now, you had to go through agents, and misunderstandings could result. But why did Lippi walk out, even if it was already known he was bound for Inter next season on a £3.5m-a-year contract?
One journalist said Lippi had lost touch with the players, he couldn't motivate them anymore. The club realised it and did nothing to stop him going. For four years, Lippi had won everything in sight. Had he gone on like that, as Bettega smilingly said, there would have been nothing for anybody else: "It was a bolt from the blue when, after a match against Parma, he said he was going." Results had been abysmal. Under Ancelotti, they have improved, though recent league results have been somewhat dismal; only an appalling goalkeeping error in Piraeus, Greece, giving Antonio Conte an equalising goal, had enabled Juve to squeeze into the semi-final.
Ancelotti, said Bettega, had not made any radical changes in tactics or training: "Perhaps there was a psychological boost which influenced the players positively."
Angelo Di Livio comes into the press room, still wearing his kit. Suntanned, genial, with very bright, blue eyes. Last summer Juventus tried to sell him, together with that other hero of recent games, the goalscoring midfielder, Conte. Lippi did not seem to rate them. "Perhaps he thought we were played out, old," said Di Livio. He is delighted for Conte and hopes that he will see out the rest of his career at Juve. "Recognition? It doesn't exist. They don't give you any when it comes to contracts," he said.
Di Livio, who was snubbed by Roma and nearly went to Lazio last summer, now says that he would like to finish his career with Juventus. He said of Wednesday's game: "We have a slight advantage through having scored a goal, but it will be a hard game because we know Manchester very well as a team. We managed only to get that one goal. With a little more concentration, we could have scored more."
Right wing, left wing, wing-back, he has done everything the club could ask of him this season, but he says he would always prefer to be un esterano, a winger; right or left doesn't matter to him. "They've told me I am an important player for the future," he said, although he seems resigned to whatever ultimately happens. Did Juventus tire towards the end at Old Trafford? "I think anybody who plays at Manchester has to give them half an hour," he said, "either at the beginning or at the end!"
For Bettega, Wednesday's game will be tactically different from the one at Old Trafford "because the managers will surely make certain changes. The first game lasts for 90 minutes, but there are another 90 minutes to come." He feels that more risks will be taken than in Manchester: "A team that finds itself behind has to do something to change the situation."
Ancelotti added: "It's difficult. We'll have to fight, then we can do it."
